Hello,I am thinking about setting up a three monitor system for FS2004. Here are my system specs. What would I need to complete this task and what monitors should I buy?Intel Core 2 Extreme X68002-XFX GEFORCE 8800 GTX XXXAsus Striker Extreme4-Gig Corsair XMS2 DOMINATOR Twin2X2048-9136C5DEnermax Galaxy 1000w2 Western Digital 10,000rpm Raptor Sata hard drives (150Gig each) - (RAID0)Creative Labs Audigy 2 ZS PlatinumAsus DRW-0804P DVD-RWSony DRU-830A Dual Layer DVD Multi driveMitsumi 1.44MB 3.5"Enermax Mid-TowerCoolmaster MusketeerCoolmaster Cool Drive 4Typhoon VXThanks

Michael,What are you going to use the Monitors for? Are all 3 for a panoramic outside view or is just one for the outside and the other 2 for instruments. What type of aircraft..if its for Helicopter then you may want to use 2 of the monitors for side views??With those 2 cards you'll have plenty of options... your system will be very similar to mine and I've been able to configure it in lots of different ways.What works really well is a 24" Wide centre monitor with 2 x 20" either side. The DELL ones are perfectly matched so that they are the same height. 3 x 24"W is even better. You can also use a Matrox TH2Go.. but these are optimized for 19" monitore (1280x1024). However if you have 5 of these you can hook 3 up to the TH2Go for the outside view on one card and use the other card to drive the other 2 monitors as instrument panels.RegardsJimASUS P5N32-EX68002GB OCZ (1066MHz)2 x EVGA 8800 GTXOCZ 1000W PSU

Hi Jim,99% of my flying is done with Level-D's 767-300ER. I am looking for a panoramic view. Will the three monitors be able to hook up to my two video cards or do I need the Matrox TH2Go?. I would also like to keep at least a resolution of 1600x1200x32.Thanks

Mike,If you want larger monitors then the TH2Go will run them sub-optimal which I don't recommend. So hooking up your 3 monitors (2+1) you will have to run in Windowed mode in order to span the 3 monitors.If I was building a "Big Jet" system. I'd use all 4 outputs. 3 for the panoramic view out the front and the 4 the monitor for Instruments/GPS/Radios etc.OR......forget the 3 monitors and go for projectorsRegardsJim

>Michael,>>With those 2 cards you'll have plenty of options... your>system will be very similar to mine and I've been able to>configure it in lots of different ways.>>>Jim>>ASUS P5N32-E>X6800>2GB OCZ (1066MHz)>2 x EVGA 8800 GTX>OCZ 1000W PSUJim, I was looking at a system similar to yours with a single 8800, but I'd be interested in hearing the options on using a 2nd card with FS or FSX for 3 monitors...

For a discussion on triple monitors see Topic #27159 in this forum- "Triple Monitor setup help please" July 6-18. Triple views with a 180

>Jim, I was looking at a system similar to yours with a single>8800, but I'd be interested in hearing the options on using a>2nd card with FS or FSX for 3 monitors...You can easily run 4 monitors from a single 8800GTX (provided you have the CPU/RAM to match)A Matrox TH2Go can drive the 3 monitor outside view and the second output drives the 'instrument panel' monitor. Provided you don't require too much autogen and AI you can achieve over 20 fps in FSX even at Airports.I've built 4-monitor systems usind DELL XPS710, DELL Dimension 9200 and custom built cases based on E6700, Q6700 and X6800 CPUs.2 cards or 1 card is not that important as they have 768MB on-board VRAM..the important thing is to make sure you have a decent MB/CPU/RAM combo. Until DX10 comes out the advantges of 2 cards over 1 card is not that great unless you want to run up to 4 high resolution monitors and then the TH2Go is not optimal. It all depends on your budget: 3x 19" monitors and a TH2Go is about the same as 2 x 24w" monitors 3840x1024 pixels versus 3840x1200 pixels (and it will cost about the same too) ..but the TH2Go gives you the versatility of utilising that 2nd Graphics portRegardsJim

XP has a horizontal (or vertical) span mode where 3+ monitors can be used like a TH2G. Vista does not have this span mode. It only has dual view. (XP's looking better and better all the time. It's much less prone to OOM problems too.) The THTG was looking like the only way to get a decent panorama, but what an expensive rig-job that might turn out to be. I'm currently experimenting with a 42" LCD. It's a 1080p and just plugged into my 4 year old rig. It ran at 1920 x 1080 without any fuss. I have a second 19"-er running off the 6600s second DVI slot in Vista's Dual view. Again, no fuss. Just plugged stuff in and it worked. Dual monitors off a little ol 6600. I'm getting entirely usable frame rates with PMDG in FS9 and the default airplanes in FSX. Have you seen the FSX/Megasenery Hawaii addon? On a 42" at 1920 x 1080? Woah. The Vcockpit wide view in FSX is a real eye-popper. The FS9/PMDG 744's Vcockpit would be great if I could just get rid of the Capt's seat. I can pull WaY back, but the seat blocks my view. If I could just get rid of that obstruction, that cockpit would be amazing. Even now, the actual size of the cockpit furnishings as displayed on the 42" monitor makes me want to reach out and hang on the glareshield pad. During my 1st approach, I actually reached up to punch "APP." I was all there, but virtual-ity struck. "Dang, where's that stupid mouse!" Go down and borrow one from your local BB and give it a try. 800 bucks these days. What's a THTO rig gonna cost?

>XP has a horizontal (or vertical) span mode where 3+ monitors can be used like a TH2G. Is this something you've actually done or are you assuming that you can span over 3+ monitors? If it is true I wonder why Matrox went to the bother of making a TH2Go???I have 2x 8800GTX and they will only do 2 separate Horizontal (or Vertical) spans, ie I can only get them to Span across a single card..the span will not stretch BETWEEN cards. (This is in XP) So with 4x 20" monitors (1600x1200) I can achieve 2 lots of 3200x1200 or 2 lots of 1600x2400 but I can not get 4800x1200 etcIf you have achieved this I (and many others) would be very pleased to hear how it's done. As a work-around you can span all of your monitors in FS by simpling working in Windowed mode. So a TH2Go and Spanning are not strictly necessary unless you want to run in Full Screen modeRegardsJim

http://forums.avsim.net/dcboard.php?az=sho...ing_type=search"I'm running FS9 triple VIEWS- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd on 3 monitors with 3 GeForce FX5200 cards (a dualhead AGP & single PCI). System is my 4 yr. old AMD XP2200 1.8GHz - 1 LCD,2 CRTs. NO stutters, comfortable frame rates. Once you've flown with a 48"/180

Hi Jim,I do not want to run in window mode. I am thinking about buying three 22" monitors. Will I be able to run at 1600x1200x32 full screen mode using my 2 800GTX video boards?. Thanks

>I do not want to run in window mode. I am thinking about buying three 22" monitors. Will I be able to run at 1600x1200x32 full screen mode using my 2 800GTX video boards?.Mike the only way to run 3 monitors in Full Screen Mode is using the TH2Go. You would be able to Span 2 of your monitors and run them Full Screen but the third monitor would then have to run independantly. Which just doesn't work for a panoramic view but is great for this kind of setupWhy don't you want to run in Windowed Mode? Is it because of the Windows border you get around or is it because of a perceived performace hit.. With the PC specs you're proposing it will 'fly' and you'll stop noticing the Windows border within minutes!RegardsJim

Good morning Sam- your quote from my previous post is quite correct. That is- 3 views- LFwd,Fwd,RFwd using 3 video cards to drive 3 monitors. With bezel width compensation to synch horizon in roll & pitch, it works beautifully! The 3 monitors are setup in Display/settings- 'extend my desktop to this monitor". Then you can undock/drag/resize anywhere over the three. It's simple and I've found it totally reliable. (NEVER allow a View to overlap an adjacent monitor>FPS hit!) But I think this may be different from SPAN- which I BELIEVE spreads a single image over 2 monitors. Am I correct on this? My understanding of TH2GO is that it SPANS the main view (90

Hello,Are you saying that with my two 8800GTX video boards I can run four monitors and undock the LFWD - FWD - RFWD views and still have a monitor left for my instruments without using TH2GO and keep my resolution at 1600x1200x32?. All I would have to do is run FS2004 in windowed modeThanks

>Are you saying that with my two 8800GTX video boards I can run>four monitors and undock the LFWD - FWD - RFWD views and still>have a monitor left for my instruments without using TH2GO and>keep my resolution at 1600x1200x32?. All I would have to do is>run FS2004 in windowed modeThat's it exactlyRegardsJim